Optical ring network with optical subnets and method

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method of passively adding traffic from a first optical network to a second optical network includes receiving ingress traffic from an optical ring of the first network at a node coupled to the first network, generating a first and second copy of the traffic, passively forwarding the first and second copies of the traffic, splitting the second copy of the traffic into multiple substantially identical copies, and filtering at least one of the copies of the second copy of the traffic into one or more constituent wavelengths. The method further includes selectively forwarding the signal in one or more constituent wavelengths of the second copy of the traffic to a node coupled to the second network, receiving the forwarded signal in one or more wavelengths at the node, and adding the forwarded signal in one or more wavelengths to an optical ring of the second network.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to optical transport systems,and more particularly to an optical ring network with optical subnetsand method.

BACKGROUND

Telecommunications systems, cable television systems and datacommunication networks use optical networks to rapidly convey largeamounts of information between remote points. In an optical network,information is conveyed in the form of optical signals through opticalfibers. Optical fibers comprise thin strands of glass capable oftransmitting the signals over long distances with very low loss.

Optical networks often employ wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) ordense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to increase transmissioncapacity. In WDM and DWDM networks, a number of optical channels arecarried in each fiber at disparate wavelengths. Network capacity isbased on the number of wavelengths, or channels, in each fiber and thebandwidth, or size of the channels.

The typology in which WDM and DWDM networks are built plays a key rolein determining the extent to which such networks are utilized. Ringtopologies are common in today's networks. WDM add/drop units serve asnetwork elements on the periphery of such optical rings. By using WDMadd/drop equipment at each network element (node), the entire compositesignal can be fully demultiplexed into its constituent channels andswitched (added/dropped or passed through).

SUMMARY

The present invention provides an optical ring network having componentsthat provide selective signal regeneration and signal wavelengthconversion to provide for protection switching in a network of passiveadd/drop nodes.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method ofpassively adding traffic from a first optical network to a secondoptical network includes receiving ingress traffic from an optical ringof the first network at a node coupled to the first network, generatinga first and second copy of the traffic, passively forwarding the firstand second copies of the traffic, splitting the second copy of thetraffic into multiple substantially identical copies, and filtering atleast one of the copies of the second copy of the traffic into one ormore constituent wavelengths. The method further includes selectivelyforwarding the signal in one or more constituent wavelengths of thesecond copy of the traffic to a node coupled to the second network,receiving the forwarded signal in one or more wavelengths at the node,and adding the forwarded signal in one or more wavelengths to an opticalring of the second network.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method oftransmitting multiplexed traffic on an optical ring of an opticalnetwork comprising a plurality of add/drop nodes and a plurality ofgateway nodes includes receiving ingress optical traffic comprising aplurality of optical signals at a first add/drop node coupled to a firstring of the optical network (each signal in a separate channel)forwarding the received optical traffic to a second add/drop node on thenetwork, and generating a first copy and a second copy of each of thereceived optical signals at the second add/drop node. The method alsoincludes multiplexing the signals contained in the second copy of eachof the received signals into a multiplexed signal, adding the trafficcontained in the multiplexed signal to the traffic contained in thefirst copy of each of the received signals, and forwarding an opticalsignal containing at least the traffic contained in the multiplexedsignal and the traffic contained in the in the first copies of each ofthe received signals to a gateway node in the network. The methodfurther includes receiving the optical signal containing at least thetraffic contained in the multiplexed signal and the traffic contained inthe in the first copies of each of the received signals at a firstoptical coupler of the gateway node. The first optical coupler mayforward a first copy and a second copy of the optical signal received atthe gateway node. The method also includes terminating the trafficcontained in the first copy of each of the received signals at thegateway node and forwarding the traffic in the multiplexed signal toanother node in the network from the gateway node.

Technical advantages of one or more embodiments of the present inventionmay include providing an improved optical ring network. In particularembodiments, such a network may include add/drop nodes or gateways ofone optical ring network that may be coupled to add/drop nodes orgateways coupled to another optical ring network to allow traffic to bepassively added and/or dropped from one network to the other network.

Another technical advantage of certain embodiments is the ability toprovide an optical ring network that is able to multiplex the trafficcontained in multiple optical signals into a single optical signal sothat wavelength resources may be conserved on the network.

It will be understood that the various embodiments of the presentinvention may include some, all, or none of the enumerated technicaladvantages. In addition, other technical advantages of the presentinvention may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from thefigures, description and claims included herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example optical network inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating details of an example add/dropnode of the network of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of theadd/drop node of FIG. 2A, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of an optical coupler ofthe add/drop nodes of FIGS. 2A-2B, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating details an optical gateway ofthe network of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a regeneration element that maybe implemented in the gateway of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is a block diagram illustrating a multiplexer/demultiplexer unitthat may be implemented in the gateway of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example light paths associatedwith an example configuration of the optical network of FIG. 1, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating example light paths of opticalsignals in an optical network having a single gateway, in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method for transmitting traffic in anoptical network to provide Optical Unidirectional Path-Switched Ring(OUPSR) protection, in accordance with particular embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating example optical signals of anexample configuration of the optical network of FIG. 1, in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating protection switching and lightpath protection of a traffic stream in the network of FIG. 8, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an example method for transmitting traffic in anoptical network to provide Optical Shared Path Protection Ring (OSPPR)protection, in accordance with particular embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an example optical network systemin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a detailed view of one embodiment of the connectionsbetween gateways of the optical networks in the optical network systemof FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example method for passively adding traffic fromone optical network to another optical network, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example add/drop nodeaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates an example optical network with multiplexing nodesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example optical network with multiplexing nodesaccording to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 17 illustrates an example method for transmitting multiplexedtraffic on an optical ring network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an optical network 10 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In accordancewith this embodiment, the network 10 is an optical ring. An optical ringmay include, as appropriate, a single, unidirectional fiber, a single,bi-directional fiber, or a plurality of uni- or bi-directional fibers.In the illustrated embodiment, the network 10 includes a pair ofunidirectional fibers, each transporting traffic in opposite directions,specifically a first fiber, or ring, 16 and a second fiber, or ring, 18.Rings 16 and 18 connect a plurality of add/drop nodes (ADNs) 12 andoptical gateways 14. Network 10 is an optical network in which a numberof optical channels are carried over a common path in disparatewavelengths/channels. Network 10 may be an wavelength divisionmultiplexing (WDM), dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), orother suitable multi-channel network. Network 10 may be used as ashort-haul metropolitan network, a long-haul inter-city network, or anyother suitable network or combination of networks.

Referring to FIG. 1, optical information signals are transmitted indifferent directions on rings 16 and 18. The optical signals have atleast one characteristic modulated to encode audio, video, textual,real-time, non-real-time and/or other suitable data. Modulation may bebased on phase shift keying (PSK), intensity modulation (IM) and othersuitable methodologies.

In the illustrated embodiment, the first ring 16 is a clockwise ring inwhich traffic is transmitted in a clockwise direction. The second ring18 is a counterclockwise ring in which traffic is transmitted in acounterclockwise direction. ADNs 12 are each operable to passively addand drop traffic to and from the rings 16 and 18. In particular, eachADN 12 receives traffic from local clients and adds that traffic to therings 16 and 18. At the same time, each ADN 12 receives traffic from therings 16 and 18 and drops traffic destined for the local clients. Asused throughout this description and the following claims, the term“each” means every one of at least a subset of the identified items. Inadding and dropping traffic, the ADNs 12 may combine data from clientsfor transmittal in the rings 16 and 18 and may drop channels of datafrom the rings 16 and 18 for clients. Traffic may be dropped by makingthe traffic available for transmission to the local clients. Thus,traffic may be dropped and yet continue to circulate on a ring. ADNs 12communicate the traffic on rings 16 and 18 regardless of the channelspacing of the traffic—thus providing “flexible” channel spacing in theADNs 12. “Passively” in this context means the adding or dropping ofchannels without power, electricity, and/or moving parts. An activedevice would thus use power, electricity or moving parts to performwork. In a particular embodiment of the present invention, traffic maybe passively added to and/or dropped from the rings 16 and 18 bysplitting/combining, which is without multiplexing/demultiplexing, inthe transport rings and/or separating parts of a signal in the ring.

Rings 16 and 18 and the ADNs 12 are subdivided into sub-networks or“subnets” 20, 22, and 24, with gateways 14 forming the subnetboundaries. A subnet may be defined as a subset of nodes on a ring whosewavelengths are not isolated from each other and which may comprisetraffic streams from nodes within the subnet, but whose wavelengths areisolated from traffic streams from other nodes on the ring, except for aportion of wavelengths (at least during normal operations) thattransport traffic streams that pass through, enter or exit the subnet inorder to reach their destination nodes. The gateways may be operable toterminate traffic channels from a subnet that have reached theirdestination ADNs (including those that have or will reach theirdestination nodes in an opposite direction) and to forward trafficchannels from a subnet that have not reached their destination ADNs.Further details regarding the gateways 14 are described below inreference to FIG. 4A.

Within each subnet, traffic is passively added to and passively droppedfrom the rings 16 and 18, channel spacing is flexible, and the nodes arefree to transmit and receive signals to and from nodes within thesubnet. Such traffic may be referred to as “intra-subnet traffic.”Another portion of the traffic—“inter-subnet traffic”—may travel to andfrom nodes in another subnet. Such inter-subnet traffic traverses ortravels within at least part of two subnets. Because an intra-subnettraffic stream utilizes its wavelength/channel only within the subnet inwhich it travels, the wavelength/channel used for intra-subnet trafficin one subnet may potentially be used in another subnet by anothertraffic stream. In this way, the overall capacity of the network may beincreased, while maintaining flexible channel spacing within individualsubnets.

Signal information such as wavelengths, power and quality parameters maybe monitored in ADNs 12 and/or by a centralized control system. Thus,ADNs 12 may provide for circuit protection in the event of a line cut orother interruption in one or both of the rings 16 and 18. An opticalsupervisory channel (OSC) may be used by the nodes to communicate witheach other and with the control system. In particular embodiments, asdescribed further below with reference to FIGS. 5 through 7, network 10may be an Optical Unidirectional Path-Switched Ring (OUPSR) network inwhich traffic sent from a first ADN 12 to a second ADN 12 iscommunicated from the first ADN 12 to the second ADN 12 over both rings16 and 18. The second ADN 12 may include components allowing the secondnode to select between the traffic arriving via rings 16 and 18 so as toforward to a local client(s) the traffic from the ring that has a lowerbit error rate (BER), a higher power level, and/or any other appropriateand desirable characteristics. Alternatively, such components may selecttraffic from a designated ring unless that traffic falls below/above aselected level of one or more operating characteristics (in which case,traffic from the other ring may be selected). The use of such dualsignals allows traffic to get from the first ADN 12 to the second ADN 12over at least one of the rings 16 and 18 in the event of a line break orother damage to the other of the rings 16 and 18.

In other embodiments, network may be an Optical Shared Path ProtectionRing (OSPPR) network in which one of rings 16 and 18 may be used as aback-up communication or protection path in the event that acommunications on the other ring 16 or 18 are interrupted. When notbeing used in such a back-up capacity, the protection path maycommunicate other preemptable traffic, thus increasing the capacity ofnetwork 10 in such embodiments. Such an OSPPR protection scheme isdescribed in further detail below in association with FIGS. 8-10.

The wavelength assignment algorithm may maximize wavelength reuse and/orassign wavelengths heuristically. For example, heuristic assignment mayassign all intra-subnet (ingress and egress nodes in the same subnet)lightpaths the lowest available wavelength. On the other handinter-subnet lightpaths (whose ingress and egress nodes are on differentsubnets or different rings for that matter) may be assigned on thehighest possible wavelengths. This may provide static load balancing andmay reduce the number of net transponder card type required in the ring.

In one embodiment, each subnet is assigned to make good use ofwavelength resources and has a wavelength channel capacity substantiallyequal to the optical network. Substantially equal in this context in oneembodiment may mean the subnet has eighty percent of its wavelengthsisolated from the other subnets and available for intra-subnet traffic.In other embodiments, substantially equal may mean ninety percentanother suitable percentage.

The network may be divided into subnets based on bandwidth usage pernode. For example, a network may have a particular number of nodes, amaximum capacity (in terms of bandwidth) of the network, and a typicalcapacity per node. Bandwidth is distributed to each node, and the firstsubnet is built when either the total bandwidth is exhausted completelyor when the subnet bandwidth is such that addition of the next nodewould create an excess bandwidth issue. This process is repeated untileach node is placed in a possible subnet.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating details of an ADN 12 of FIG. 1in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 2, the ADN 12 comprises counterclockwise transport element 50 a,clockwise transport element 50 b, counterclockwisedistributing/combining element 80 a, clockwise distributing/combiningelement 80 b, and managing element 110. In one embodiment, elements 50,80, and 110, as well as components within the elements, may beinterconnected with optical fiber links. In other embodiments, thecomponents may be implemented in part or otherwise with planar waveguidecircuits and/or free space optics. Any other suitable connections mayalternatively be used. In addition, the elements of ADN 12 may each beimplemented as one or more discrete cards within a card shelf of the ADN12. Exemplary connectors 70 for a card shelf embodiment are illustratedby FIG. 2A. The connectors 70 may allow efficient and cost effectivereplacement of failed components. It will be understood that additional,different and/or other connectors may be provided as part of the ADN 12.

Transport elements 50 are positioned “in-line” on rings 16 and 18.Transport elements 50 may comprise either a single add/drop coupler 60or a plurality of add/drop couplers 60 which allow for the passiveadding and dropping of traffic. In the illustrated embodiment, transportelements 50 each include a single add/drop coupler 60. Alternatively, aseparate drop coupler and add coupler can be so that if one of thecouplers fail, the other coupler can still add or drop. Althoughcouplers 60 are described, any other suitable optical splitters may beused. For the purposes of this description and the following claims, theterms “coupler,” “splitter,” and “combiner” should each be understood toinclude any device which receives one or more input optical signals, andeither splits or combines the input optical signal(s) into one or moreoutput optical signals. The transport elements 50 further comprise OSCfilters 66 at the ingress and egress edges of each element, and anamplifier 64 between the ingress OSC filter 66 a and the egress OSCfilter 66 b. Amplifiers 64 may comprise an erbium-doped fiber amplifier(EDFA) or other suitable amplifier. OSC filters 66 may comprise thinfilm type, fiber grating or other suitable type filters.

Distributing/combining elements 80 may each comprise a drop signalsplitter 82 and an add signal combiner 84. Splitters 82 may comprise acoupler with one optical fiber ingress lead and a plurality of opticalfiber egress leads which serve as drop leads 86. The drop leads 86 maybe connected to one or more filters 100 which in turn may be connectedto one or more drop optical receivers 102. In particular embodiments inwhich four drop leads 86 are implemented, splitters 82 may each comprisea 2×4 optical coupler, where one ingress lead is terminated, the otheringress lead is coupled to a coupler 60 via a fiber segment, and thefour egress leads are used as the drop leads 86. Although theillustrated embodiment shows four drop leads 86, it should be understoodthat any appropriate number of drop leads 86 may implemented, asdescribed in further detail below.

Combiners 84 similarly may comprise a coupler with multiple opticalfiber ingress leads, which serve as add leads 88, and one optical fiberegress lead. The add leads 88 may be connected to one or more addoptical transmitters 104. In particular embodiments in which four addleads 88 are implemented, combiners 84 may each comprise a 2×4 opticalcoupler, where one ingress lead is terminated, the other ingress lead iscoupled to a coupler via a fiber segment, and the four egress leads areused as the add leads 88. Although the illustrated embodiment shows fouradd leads 88, it should be understood that any appropriate number of addleads 88 may implemented, as described in further detail below. The ADN12 further comprises counterclockwise add fiber segment 142,counterclockwise drop fiber segment 144, clockwise add fiber segment146, clockwise drop fiber segment 148, which connect the couplers 60 tosplitters 82 and combiners 84.

Managing element 110 may comprise OSC receivers 112, OSC interfaces 114,OSC transmitters 116, and an element management system (EMS) 124. ADN 12also comprises OSC fiber segments 150, 152, 154, and 156, that connectmanaging element 110 to ingress and egress OSC filters 66. Each OSCreceiver 112, OSC interface 114, and OSC transmitter 116 set forms anOSC unit for one of the rings 16 or 18 in the ADN 12. The OSC unitsreceive and transmit OSC signals for the EMS 124. The EMS 124 may becommunicably coupled to a network management system (NMS) 126. NMS 126may reside within ADN 12, in a different node, or external to all of theADNs 12.

EMS 124 and/or NMS 126 may comprise logic encoded in media forperforming network and/or node monitoring, failure detection, protectionswitching and loop back or localized testing functionality of thenetwork 10. Logic may comprise software encoded in a disk or othercomputer-readable medium and/or instructions encoded in anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), or other processor or hardware. It will be understood thatfunctionality of EMS 124 and/or NMS 126 may be performed by othercomponents of the network and/or be otherwise distributed orcentralized. For example, operation of NMS 126 may be distributed to theEMS 124 of nodes 12 a and/or 14, and the NMS 126 may thus be omitted asa separate, discrete element. Similarly, the OSC units may communicatedirectly with NMS 126 and EMS 124 omitted.

In operation, the transport elements 50 are operable to passively addtraffic to rings 16 and 18 and to passively drop traffic from rings 16and 18. The transport elements 50 are further operable to passively addand drop the OSC signal to and from rings 16 and 18. More specifically,each OSC ingress filter 66 a processes an ingress optical signal fromits respective ring 16 or 18. OSC filters 66 a filters the OSC signalfrom the optical signal and forwards the OSC signal to its respectiveOSC receiver 112. Each OSC filter 66 a also forwards or lets pass theremaining transport optical signal to the associated amplifier 64.Amplifier 64 amplifies the signal and forwards the signal to itsassociated coupler 60.

Each coupler 60 passively splits the signal from the amplifier 64 intotwo generally identical signals: a through signal that is forwarded toegress OSC filter 66 b (after being combined with add traffic, asdescribed below), and a drop signal that is forwarded to the associateddistributing/combining element 80. The split signals are copies in thatthey are identical or substantially identical in content, although powerand/or energy levels may differ. Each coupler 60 passively combines thethrough signal with an add signal comprising add traffic from theassociated distributing/combining element 80. The combined signal isforwarded from the coupler 60 to its associated OSC egress filter 66 b.Couplers 60 work for both adding and dropping, so they are very low-lossand simple. If a failure occurs in a coupler 60, the replacement of thecoupler affects both adding and dropping. To avoid this, a drop couplerand an add coupler can be cascaded instead of using a single coupler 60.

Each OSC egress filter 66 b adds an OSC signal from the associated OSCtransmitter 116 to the combined optical signal and forwards the newcombined signal as an egress transport signal to the associated ring 16or 18 of network 10. The added OSC signal may be locally generated dataor may be received OSC data forwarded through by the EMS 124.

Prior to being forwarded to couplers 60, locally-derived add traffic(from local clients or subscribers, from another network, or from anyother appropriate source) is received at a distributing/combiningelement 80 from one or more of the optical transmitters 104. One or moreof the optical transmitters 104 may include one or more components foradjusting the optical output power from the transmitter 104, such as amanual variable optical attenuator. Traffic to be added to ring 18 isreceived at distributing/combining element 80 a and traffic to be addedto ring 16 is received at distributing/combining element 80 b. Thesereceived signals are able to be used as monitors. A separate opticaltransmitter 104 may be used for each wavelength/channel in which trafficis to be added at an ADN 12. Furthermore, each add lead 88 may beassociated with a different wavelength/channel. Therefore, there may bea transmitter 104 and add lead 88 combination for each separate channelin which traffic is desired to be added at a particular ADN 12. Althoughfour add leads 88 for each ring 16 and 18 are illustrated (although fourtransmitters 104 are not explicitly illustrated), it will be understoodthat any appropriate number of optical transmitters 104 and associatedadd leads 88 may be used.

Add traffic from one or more transmitters 104 associated with aparticular distributing/combining element 80 is received at theassociated combiner 84. The combiner 84 combines the signals frommultiple transmitters 104 (if applicable) and forwards the combined addsignal to the associated coupler 60 for addition to the associated ring16 or 18. As described above, this add traffic is then combined withforwarded traffic at coupler 60. Combiner 84 may be a coupler, amultiplexer, or any other suitable device.

In the illustrated embodiment, a separate optical transmitters 104 aredescribed as being associated with each distributing/combining element80. In such an embodiment, different signals may be communicated overeach ring 16 and 18. For example, a first signal can be added in aparticular channel/wavelength on ring 16 at an ADN 12, and an entirelydifferent signal can be added in the same channel/wavelength on ring 18by the same ADN 12. This is possible since each channel/wavelength hasan associated optical transmitter 104 at each distributing/combiningelement 80. As described below, such a feature is useful when providingan OSPPR network, among other reasons.

However, as described in further detail below, when providing an OUPSRnetwork, the same traffic is typically added from an ADN 12 on both ring16 and ring 18. This duplicate traffic is used to provide faultprotection. In such embodiments, two different sets of opticaltransmitters 104 are not required. Instead, distributing/combiningelements 80 a and 80 b can share a set of transmitters 104. In such acase, the add signals generated by a particular optical transmitter 104(add signals in a particular channel/wavelength) may be communicated tothe combiner 84 of both distributing/combining element 80 a anddistributing/combining element 80 b. Thus, the same traffic is added torings 16 and 18 by the ADN 12.

As described above, locally-destined traffic on a ring 16 or 18 isdropped to the associated distributing/combining element 80 usingcoupler 60. The drop traffic is received at the splitter 82 of thedistributing/combining element 80, and the splitter 82 splits thedropped signal into multiple generally identical signals and forwardseach signal to an optical receiver 102 via a drop lead 86. In particularembodiments, the signal received by optical receivers 102 may first befiltered by an associated filter 100. Filters 100 may be implementedsuch that each filter allows a different channel to be forwarded to itsassociated receiver 102. Filters 100 may be tunable filters (such as anacousto-optic tunable filter) or other suitable filters, and receivers102 may be broadband receivers or other suitable receivers. Such aconfiguration allows each receiver 102 associated with a particular ring16 or 18 to receive a different wavelength, and to forward theinformation transmitted in that wavelength to appropriate clients. Adropped optical signal passing through a filter 100 is able to beoptically forwarded to a client without signal regeneration if thesignal does not require such regeneration.

As mentioned above, ADN 12 also provides an element management system.EMS 124 monitors and/or controls all elements in the ADN 12. Inparticular, EMS 124 receives an OSC signal from each ring 16 and 18 inan electrical format via an OSC receiver 112 associated with that ring(the OSC receiver 112 obtains the signal via an OSC filter 66 a). EMS124 may process the signal, forward the signal and/or loop-back thesignal. Thus, for example, the EMS 124 is operable to receive theelectrical signal and resend the OSC signal via OSC transmitter 116 andOSC filter 66 b to the next node on the ring 16 or 18, adding, ifappropriate, node-specific error information or other suitableinformation to the OSC.

In one embodiment, each element in an ADN 12 monitors itself andgenerates an alarm signal to the EMS 124 when a failure or other problemoccurs. For example, EMS 124 in ADN 12 may receive one or more ofvarious kinds of alarms from the elements and components in the ADN 12:an amplifier loss-of-light (LOL) alarm, an amplifier equipment alarm, anoptical receiver equipment alarm, optical transmitter equipment alarm,or other alarms. Some failures may produce multiple alarms. For example,a fiber cut may produce amplifier LOL alarms at adjacent nodes and alsoerror alarms from the optical receivers. In addition, the EMS 124 maymonitor the wavelength and/or power of the optical signal within the ADN12 using an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) communicably connected toappropriate fiber segments within ADN 12 and to EMS 124.

The NMS 126 collects error information from all of the nodes 12 and 14and is operable to analyze the alarms and determine the type and/orlocation of a failure. Based on the failure type and/or location, theNMS 126 determines needed protection switching actions for the network10. The protection switch actions may be carried out by NMS 126 byissuing instructions to the EMS in the nodes 12 and 14.

Error messages may indicate equipment failures that may be rectified byreplacing the failed equipment. For example, a failure of an opticalreceiver or transmitter may trigger an optical receiver equipment alarmor an optical transmitter equipment alarm, respectively, and the opticalreceiver or transmitter replaced as necessary.

Although a passive ADN 12 has been described, in particular embodimentsnetwork 10 may include active nodes, passive nodes, or a combination ofactive and passive nodes. Nodes may be passive in that they include nooptical switches, switchable amplifiers, or other active devices. Nodesmay be active in that they include optical switches, switchableamplifiers, or other active devices in the transport elements orotherwise in the node. Passive nodes may be of a simpler and lessexpensive design.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating details of ADN 112, analternative configuration of ADN 12 of FIG. 1, in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. ADN 112 illustrated in FIG.2B is substantially similar to ADN 12 illustrated in FIG. 2B, exceptthat ADN 112 of FIG. 2B comprises a counterclockwise transport element52 a and clockwise transport element 52 b, which each include a sub-bandrejection filter 65. Sub-band rejection filter 65 blocks a particularsub-band of optical traffic from passing through transport elements 52.A sub-band is a portion of the bandwidth of the network. Each sub-bandmay carry none, one, or a plurality of traffic channels. The trafficchannels may be flexibly spaced within the sub-band. Traffic containedin un-rejected sub-bands is passed through to other components of thenetwork. Such passed-through traffic may be rejected at another node inthe network. The rejection of a particular sub-band by rejection filter65 enables traffic in that sub-band to be added and dropped at ADN 112without interference with traffic in the sub-band being communicated onthe network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of an optical coupler 60of ADN 12 of FIG. 2A or ADN 112 of FIG. 2B, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, references to ADN 12are applicable to both ADN 12 and ADN 112. In this embodiment, theoptical coupler 60 is a fiber coupler with two inputs and two outputs.The optical coupler 60 may, in other embodiments, be combined in wholeor part with a waveguide circuit and/or free space optics. It will beunderstood that the coupler 60 may include one or any number of anysuitable inputs and outputs, and that the coupler 60 may comprise agreater number of inputs than outputs or a greater number of outputsthan inputs.

Referring to FIG. 3, the optical coupler 60 comprises a main body 180, afirst ingress segment 182, second ingress segment 184, first egresssegment 186, and second egress segment 188. First ingress segment 182and first egress segment 186 comprise a first continuous optical fiber.Second ingress segment 184 and second egress segment 188 comprise asecond continuous optical fiber. Outside of the main body 180, segments182, 184, 186, and 188 may comprise a jacket, a cladding, and a corefiber. Inside the main body 180, the jacket and cladding may be removedand the core fibers twisted or otherwise coupled together to allow thetransfer of optical signals and/or energy of the signals between andamong the first and second continuous optical fibers. In this way, theoptical splitter/coupler 60 passively combines optical signals arrivingfrom ingress segments 182 and 184 and passively splits and forwards thecombined signal via egress segments 186 and 188. A plurality of signalsmay be combined and the combined signal split by combining andthereafter splitting the combined signal or by simultaneously combiningand splitting the signals by transferring energy between fibers. In thismanner, the optical splitter/coupler 60 provides flexiblechannel-spacing with no restrictions concerning channel-spacing in themain streamline. In a particular embodiment, the coupler has adirectivity of over −55 dB. Wavelength dependence on the insertion lossis less than about 0.5 dB over a 100 nm range. The insertion loss for a50/50 coupler is less than about −3.5 dB.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating details an optical gateway 14 ofthe network of FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. As previously described, a gateway 14 may be disposedbetween, and may form the boundary of, neighboring subnets. A gateway 14may be any suitable node, nodes or element of one or more nodes that isconfigurable to selectively isolate or expose channels (or groups ofchannels) between nodes in one or more directions of a ring or othersuitable network configuration. In particular embodiments, for thesignal in each such channel (or group of channels), gateway 14 may passthrough the signal unchanged, regenerate the signal, or regenerate andconvert the wavelength of the signal.

Referring to FIG. 4A, gateway 14 includes a counterclockwise transportelement 200 a and a clockwise transport element 200 b. Transportelements 200 each comprise a multiplexer/demultiplexer (mux/demux) unit214. Mux/demux units 214 may each comprise a demultiplexer 206, amultiplexer 204, and switch elements which may comprise an array ofswitches 210 or other components operable to selectively forward orterminate a traffic channel (or group of channels). In a particularembodiment, multiplexers 204 and demultiplexers 206 may comprise arrayedwaveguides. In another embodiment, the multiplexers 204 and thedemultiplexers 206 may comprise fiber Bragg gratings, thin-film-basedsub-band (a group of wavelengths/channels which are a sub-set of thetotal wavelengths/channels available) multiplexers/demultiplexers, orany other suitable devices. If a mux/demux unit 214 consists of sub-bandmux/demux, the unit 214 is operable to block or forward sub-bands. Theswitches 210 may comprise 1×2 or other suitable switches, opticalcross-connects, or other suitable components operable to selectivelyforward or terminate the demultiplexed traffic channels. Mux/demux units214 may alternatively comprise any other components that arecollectively operable to selectively block or forward individualchannels or groups of channels.

Similarly to ADNs 12, gateway transport elements 200 also couplers 60,amplifiers 64, OSC filters 66, and connectors 70. In the illustratedembodiment, a coupler 60 a is positioned prior to each mux/demux unit214 and a coupler 60 b is positioned after each mux/demux unit 214.Coupler 60 a passively splits the signal from a pre-amplifier 64 a intotwo generally identical signals: an through signal that is forwarded tomux/demux unit 214, and a drop signal that is forwarded to an associatedsignal regeneration element 220. The split signals may be substantiallyidentical in content, although power levels may differ. Coupler 60 bpassively combines a signal from mux/demux unit 214 with a signal fromthe respective signal regeneration element 220. The combined signal isforwarded from the coupler 60 b to a post-amplifier 64 b.

The transport elements 200 are further operable to passively add anddrop an OSC signal to and from rings 16 and 18, as with transportelements 50 of ADNs 12. More specifically, each transport element 200includes an OSC ingress filter 66 a that processes an ingress opticalsignal from its respective ring 16 or 18. Each OSC filter 66 a filtersthe OSC signal from the optical signal and forward the OSC signal to arespective OSC receiver 112. Each OSC filter 66 a also forwards or letspass the remaining transport optical signal to the associatedpre-amplifier 64 a. Pre-amplifier 64 a amplifies the signal and forwardsthe signal to its associated coupler 60 a.

Transport elements 200 also each include an OSC egress filter 66 b thatadds an OSC signal from an associated OSC transmitter 116 to the opticalsignal from post-amp 64 b and forwards the combined signal as an egresstransport signal to the associated ring 16 or 18 of network 10. Theadded OSC signal may be locally generated data or may be received OSCdata passed through by the local EMS 124.

Signal regeneration elements 220 each include a splitter 222 and acombiner 224. As with splitters 82 of ADNs 12, splitters 222 maycomprise a coupler with one optical fiber ingress lead and a pluralityof optical fiber egress leads which serve as drop leads 226. One or moreof the drop leads 226 may each be connected to a filter 230, which inturn may be connected to an optical transponder 232. Combiners 224similarly may comprise a coupler with one optical fiber egress lead anda plurality of optical fiber ingress leads which serve as add leads 228.One or more of the add leads 228 may each be connected to an opticaltransponder 234. One or more of the optical transponders 234 may includeone or more components for adjusting the optical output power from thetransponder 234, such as a manual variable optical attenuator.Transponders 232 and 234 may be coupled though a switch 236 that mayeither forward a signal transmitted from transponder 232 to transponder234, or terminate the signal.

Although the illustrated embodiment shows four drop leads 226 and fouradd leads 228, it should be understood that any appropriate number ofdrop leads 226 and add leads 228 may be implemented, as described infurther detail below. Gateway 14 further comprises counterclockwise addfiber segment 242, counterclockwise drop fiber segment 244, clockwiseadd fiber segment 246, and clockwise drop fiber segment 248, whichconnect the couplers 60 a and 60 b to splitters 222 and combiners 224.

Similar to ADNs 12, gateway 14 comprises a management element 110comprising OSC receivers 112, OSC interfaces 114, OSC transmitters 116,and an EMS 124 (which is coupled to NMS 126), as described above withreference to FIG. 2. The EMS 110 is connected to transport elements 200via OSC fiber segments 150, 152, 154, and 156, again as described inreference to FIG. 2.

In operation, each transport element 200 receives a optical signal,comprising a plurality of channels, from its respective ring 16 or 18.OSC filter 66 a filters the OSC signal from the optical signal asdescribed above and the remaining optical signal is forwarded toamplifier 64 a, which amplifies the signal and forwards it to coupler 60a. Coupler 60 a passively splits the signal from the amplifier 64 intotwo generally identical signals: an through signal that is forwarded tomux/demux unit 214, and a drop signal that is forwarded to theassociated signal regeneration element 220. The split signals may besubstantially identical in content, although power levels may differ.

Demultiplexer 206 of mux/demux unit 214 receives the optical signal fromcoupler 60 a and demultiplexes the signal into its constituent channels.Switches 210 selectively terminate or forward each channel tomultiplexer 204. As described below, channels may be selectivelyterminated or forwarded to implement subnets and associated protectionschemes. The channels that are forwarded by switches 210 are received bymultiplexer 204, which multiplexes the received channels into a WDMoptical signal and forwards the optical signal to coupler 60 b.

Splitter 222 of signal regeneration element 220 also receives theoptical signal from coupler 60 a. Splitter 222 splits the dropped signalinto multiple generally identical signals. One or more of the thesesignals are each forwarded to an optical filter 230 via a drop lead 236.Each drop lead 236 may have an associated filter 230 which allows only aparticular wavelength/channel (or group of wavelengths/channels) toforward. Filters 230 may be implemented such that each filter allows adifferent channel (a filtered channel) to forward to an associatedtransponder 232. Such a configuration allows each transponder 232 thatis associated with a particular signal regeneration element 220 toreceive a different wavelength. This, in turn, allows selectedwavelengths to be forwarded to a transponder 232, and allows each suchfiltered wavelength to be dealt with differently, if appropriate.

Transponders 232 each include a receiver that receives an optical signaland converts the optical signal into an electrical signal. Eachtransponder also includes a transmitter that may convert the electricalsignal back into an optical signal. Such an optical-electrical-opticalconversion of an optical signal regenerates the signal. Alternatively,transponders 232 and 234 may be replaced by a single receiver and asingle transmitter, respectively, where a received signal iselectrically communicated from the receiver to the transmitter.Regeneration may be needed or desired when an optical signal must travela relatively long distance from origin node to destination node. Sincethe power of the signal decreases as it travels over ring 16 or 18,signal regeneration is needed if the distance of travel is great enoughto degrade a signal to the point that it is unusable or undesirable. Asan example only, in a typical metropolitan network, signal regenerationmay be desired after a signal has traveled approximately one hundredkilometers.

In the illustrated embodiment, the regenerated optical signal isforwarded from transponder 232 to a switch 236 that is located betweeneach transponder 232 and an associated transponder 234. Switch 236 mayselectively terminate the optical signal coming from the associatedtransponder 232 or it may forward the signal to the associatedtransponder 234. Transponders 234 may include a receiver and atransmitter, and signals forwarded to a transponder 234 go through anoptical-electrical-optical conversion, as with transponders 232. Inparticular embodiments, transponders 234 include a transmitter that maychange the wavelength/channel in which a signal is transmitted.Particular uses of such wavelength conversion are described in furtherdetail below.

Although transponder “sets” (transponder 232 and transponder 234) areillustrated, some embodiments may replace each such set with a singletransponder. Such a single transponder may perform both signalregeneration and wavelength conversion. Furthermore, if a singletransponder is used, switch 236 may be positioned between the receiverand transmitter of the transponder, or no switch may be used.Furthermore, any number of drop leads 226 and add leads 228 andassociated transponders 232 and 234 may be used. The number of suchleads and transponder sets (or single transponders) may vary dependingon the number of wavelengths/channels of the optical signals beingcommunicated over rings 16 and 18 on which regeneration or wavelengthconversion are to be performed.

After performing regeneration and/or wavelength conversion on selectedwavelengths/channels, such wavelengths/channels are communicated fromthe transponders 234 of a particular signal regeneration element 220 viaadd leads 228 to the combiner 224 of that signal regeneration element220. Combiner 224 combines different wavelengths/channels fromtransponders 234 and forwards the combined optical signal to coupler 60b of the associated transport element 200.

Coupler 60 b passively combines the optical signal from the associatedmux/demux unit 214 with the optical signal from the associated signalregeneration element 220. The combined signal is forwarded from thecoupler 60 b to the associated post-amplifier 64 b, where the combinedoptical signal is amplified. The amplified optical signal is thenforwarded to OSC egress filter 66 b, which adds an OSC signal from theassociated OSC transmitter 116 to the combined optical signal andforwards the new combined signal as an egress transport signal to theassociated ring 16 or 18 of network 10. The added OSC signal may belocally generated data or may be received OSC data forwarded through bythe EMS 124.

The combination of couplers 60 a and 60 b, mux/demux unit 214, andsignal regeneration element 220 in gateway 14 for each ring 16 and 18provide for flexible treatment of optical traffic arriving at gateway 14on rings 16 and 18. For example, particular wavelengths/channels of thetraffic may be forwarded through mux/demux unit 214, such that noregeneration or wavelength conversion occurs. These same wavelengthswill typically be filtered out of the optical signals dropped to signalregeneration elements 220 from couplers 60 a. Other wavelengths are eachallowed to forward through one of the filters 230 of a signalregeneration element 220 and may thus be regenerated and/or be convertedto another wavelength. These wavelengths that are forwarded to atransponder 232 are typically terminated by an associated switch 210 ofmux/demux unit 214. Therefore, each wavelength of an optical signalentering gateway 14 may be: 1) optically passed through, 2) opticallyterminated (to separate an optical subnet domain from other suchdomains), 3) regenerated without wavelength conversion, or 4)regenerated with wavelength conversion. EMS 110 may configure mux/demuxunits 214 and signal regeneration element 220 to perform one of theseoptions on each wavelength to provide for subnets, protection switching,and other suitable features, as described in greater detail below.

In accordance with various other embodiments, gateways 14 may be furtherprovisioned to passively add and drop traffic to optical rings 16 and18. Two such example embodiments are described below.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a regeneration element 240 whichmay be implemented in gateway 14 of FIG. 4A in place of eachregeneration element 220 to allow traffic to be added and dropped tolocal clients or other destinations using gateway 14. Regenerationelement 240 is similar to regeneration elements 220, except that switch236 is replace by switches 243 and 245. Switch 243 is operable tocommunicate an optical signal from transponder 232 to either switch 245or to a local client or other destination, such as another opticalnetwork (a situation described with reference to FIGS. 12-13), coupledto switch 243 for receiving dropped optical traffic (the drop trafficillustrated by arrow 246). Switch 245 may be operated to either receiveoptical signals from switch 243 or from a destination that is addingoptical traffic (the add traffic illustrated by arrow 248). Therefore, asignal from transponder 232 may either be dropped to an appropriatedestination or it may communicated to transponder 234 (for example, forwavelength conversion and communication back to ring 16 or 18). In thisway, gateway 14 can be configured, for each wavelength received by atransponder 232, to either regenerate (and possibly wavelength convert)the signal in that wavelength or to drop the signal in that wavelengthto an appropriate destination. In other embodiments, a dropped opticalsignal may be optically forwarded to a local client without beingregenerated (the signal can be forwarded directly from filter 230 to theclient without being forwarded through transponder 232.

FIG. 4C is a block diagram illustrating a mux/demux unit 250 which maybe implemented in gateway 14 of FIG. 4A in place of each mux/demux unit214 to allow traffic to be added and dropped to local clients usinggateway 14. Mux/demux unit 250 comprises demultiplexer 206 andmultiplexer 204, as described above in reference to FIG. 4A. In place ofthe plurality of switches 210 are a plurality of 2×2 switch/attenuatorsets each comprising 2×2 switch 251, a variable optical attenuator (VOA)252, an optical splitter 253, a photodetector 255, and a controller 254.VOA 252 attenuates the ingress signal to a specified power level basedon a feedback loop including splitter 253 that taps the signal,photodetector 255 that detects the power level of the signal, andfeedback controller 254 that controls VOA 254 based on the detectedpower level. In this way, the rings may be opened for a particularwavelength/channel by switching the 2×2 switch to the “cross” position,and the power level of the “through” signal when the 2×2 switch is inthe “through” position may be adjusted. Alternatively, traffic inparticular wavelengths may be added and/or dropped from the rings 16 and18 via drop leads 256 and add leads 257 of switches 251. As describedabove with reference to distributing/combining elements 80, these leads256 and 257 may be coupled to receivers that receive dropped traffic andtransmitters that add traffic. If sub-band mux/demux units are deployed,adding/dropping and power-level control may be performed per sub-band.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example optical signalsassociated with an example configuration of optical network 10 of FIG. 1in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The exampleoptical signal light paths illustrate an implementation of network 10 asan OUPSR network. In FIG. 5, for ease of reference, only high-leveldetails of ADNs 12 and gateways 14 are shown. As described withreference to FIG. 1, the example optical network 10 includes threesubnets 20, 22, and 24. Subnet 20 includes ADNs 12 a and 12 b, subnet 22includes ADNs 12 c and 12 d, and subnet 24 includes ADNs 12 e and 12 f.Gateway 14 a divides subnets 20 and 22, gateway 14 b divides subnets 22and 24, and gateway 14 c divides subnets 24 and 20. All of these nodes12 and 14 may have a “drop and continue” function, as described below.

In the illustrated embodiment, three traffic streams are shown. Trafficstream 300 is a clockwise stream originating from ADN 12 c and travelingon ring 16 destined for ADN 12 d. Traffic stream 302 is acounterclockwise stream originating from ADN 12 c and traveling on ring18 destined for ADN 12 d. Traffic stream 302′ is traffic stream 302after having its wavelength converted. Traffic stream 302′ includes thesame content as stream 302, but in a different wavelength/channel. ForOUPSR protection, traffic streams 300 and 302 include identical contentdestined for ADN 12 d. As described below, these dual OUPSR trafficstreams may be implemented by configuring gateways 14 to provideselective regeneration and/or wavelength conversion of streams 300and/or 302 in appropriate circumstances. For example, streams 300 and/or302 may be regenerated after traveling a particular distance, and stream302 may be wavelength converted to stream 302′ to prevent interferencewith itself as it travels through the subnet in which it originated.Such selective regeneration and/or wavelength conversion allows fortravel of streams 300 and 302 over relatively long distances (ifapplicable) and prevents interference of signals in network 10.

Traffic stream 300 is originated in a first wavelength/channel, λ₁, atADN 12 c using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 16. Stream 300 isadded to existing optical signals on ring 16 via the coupler 60 of ADN12 c that is associated with ring 16. Although only stream 300 is shownon ring 16, it should be understood that other traffic streams in otherwavelengths/channels (or possibly in the same wavelength/channel inother subnets) are also travelling around ring 16. After exiting ADN 12c, stream 300 travels via ring 16 to ADN 12 d. The coupler 60 of ADN 12d drops stream 300, along with all other traffic on ring 16. A receiver102 (with an associated filter 100) may then be used to receive stream300 and forward the information in that stream to an appropriatelocation. Stream 300 is also forwarded by coupler 60 of ADN 12 d, andtravels to gateway 14 b.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 b both drops (in other words, forwards a copyto regeneration element 220) and forwards traffic on ring 16 coming fromADN 12 d (including stream 300). The forwarded traffic is demultiplexedby demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 b into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 300 in λ₁. Demultiplexed stream300 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toterminate stream 300. Such termination is appropriate since traffic instream 300 is destined for ADN 12 d, which this traffic has alreadyreached. The dropped stream 300 included in the traffic dropped fromcoupler 60 a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230associated with the signal regeneration element 220 of the gateway 14 tonot forward λ₁. Because stream 300 is terminated before entering subnets24 and 20, λ₁ may be reused in these subnets for other traffic, ifdesired.

Traffic stream 302 is originated in a second wavelength/channel, λ₂, atADN 12 c using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 18. The use of λ₂is used as merely an example and for purposes of distinction. In fact,since ring 16 is separate from ring 18, stream 322 may be (and mighttypically be) transmitted in λ₁. Furthermore, any other appropriatewavelengths/channels may be used to transmit streams 302, 302, and 302′.Stream 302 is added to existing optical signals on ring 18 via thecoupler 60 of ADN 12 c that is associated with ring 18. Although onlystream 302 (and 302′) is shown on ring 18, it should be understood thatother traffic streams in other wavelengths/channels (or possibly in thesame wavelength/channel in other subnets) are also travelling aroundring 18. After exiting ADN 12 c, stream 302 travels via ring 18 togateway 14 a.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 a both drops and forwards traffic on ring 18coming from ADN 12 c (including stream 302). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 a into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 302 in λ₂. Demultiplexed stream302 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toforward stream 302. Such forwarding is appropriate since traffic instream 302 is destined for ADN 12 d, which this traffic has not yetreached, and since the stream 302 does not need to be regenerated orwavelength converted. It is assumed in the illustrated embodiment thatthe distance from ADN 12 c to gateway 14 a is not large enough torequire signal regeneration. The forwarded stream 302 is recombined withother demultiplexed traffic using multiplexer 204. The dropped stream302 included in the traffic dropped from coupler 60 a is terminated(since no regeneration or wavelength conversion is needed) byconfiguring the filters 230 associated with the signal regenerationelement 220 of the gateway 14 a to not forward λ₂.

Stream 302 travels, along with other traffic, from gateway 14 a throughADNs 12 b and 12 a to gateway 14 c. The traffic stream 302 is not shownas being dropped by ADNs 12 b and 12 a because stream 302 is notdestined for these nodes. However, it should be understood that coupler60 of ADNs 12 b and 12 a both forwards stream 302 (along with the restof the traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 302 (along with the othertraffic). The filters 100 associated with ADNs 12 b and 12 a filter outλ₂, as described above, since stream 302 is not destined for thesenodes. Alternatively, wavelengths may be filtered out by an electricalswitch in the receiver 102.

Upon reaching gateway 14 c, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 c both drops andforwards traffic on ring 18 coming from ADN 12 a (including stream 302).For the purposes of this example, it is assumed that stream 302 requiresregeneration due to the distance it has traveled around ring 18 to thispoint. Therefore, once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 c, demultiplexed stream302 in λ₂ is terminated by a switch 210. Such termination is appropriatesince traffic in stream 302 is regenerated using signal regenerationelement 220 and added back onto ring 18 at coupler 60 b.

The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a is forwarded to a signalregeneration element 220 associated with ring 18. The dropped traffic issplit into multiple copies by a splitter 222 and stream 302 is forwardedthrough to a transponder 232 by a filter 230. Stream 302 is thenregenerated using transponder 232 and/or transponder 234 (as describedabove, a single transponder may be used in particular embodiments). Nowavelength conversion is performed at this point in the illustratedembodiment. The regenerated stream 302 is then combined with othersignals being forwarding through the signal regeneration element 220 bya combiner 224, and the combined signal is added to traffic forwardingthough mux/demux unit 214 by coupler 60 b. This combined traffic iscommunicated from gateway 14 c to ADN 12 f.

Stream 302 travels, along with other traffic, from gateway 14 c throughADNs 12 f and 12 e to gateway 14 b. The traffic stream 302 is not shownas being dropped by ADNs 12 f and 12 e because stream 302 is notdestined for these nodes. However, it should be understood that coupler60 of ADNs 12 f and 12 e both forwards stream 302 (along with the restof the traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 302 (along with the othertraffic). The filters 100 associated with ADNs 12 f and 12 e filter outλ₂, as described above, since stream 302 is not destined for thesenodes.

Upon reaching gateway 14 b, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 b both drops andforwards traffic on ring 18 coming from ADN 12 a (including stream 302).For the purposes of this example, stream 302 requires wavelengthconversion at this point since travel of stream 302 in λ₂ in subnet 22will create interference with traffic originating from ADN 12 c in λ₂.Therefore, once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a is demultiplexedby demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 b, demultiplexed stream 302 in λ₂ isterminated by a switch 210.

The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a is forwarded to a signalregeneration element 220 associated with ring 18. The dropped traffic issplit into multiple copies by a splitter 222 and stream 302 is forwardedthrough to a transponder 232 by a filter 230 which allows λ₂ to beforwarded to the transponder 232. Stream 302 is then regenerated usingtransponder 232 and it wavelength is converted to λ₃ by transponder 234(although, as described above, a single transponder may be used inparticular embodiments). The regenerated and wavelength converted stream302′ is then combined with other signals being forwarded through thesignal regeneration element 220 by a combiner 224, and the combinedsignal is added to traffic forwarding though mux/demux unit 214 bycoupler 60 b. This combined traffic is communicated from gateway 14 b toADN 12 d.

Coupler 60 of ADN 12 d both forwards stream 302′ (along with the rest ofthe traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 302′ (along with the othertraffic). One of the filters 100 associated with ADN 12 d is configuredto forward through λ₃, since stream 302′ is destined for ADN 12 d.Stream 302′ also continues on to ADN 12 c, which drops and filters outstream 302′. Coupler 60 of ADN 12 c also forwards stream 320′, but sincestream 302′ is now in λ₃, no interference is caused when stream 302′ iscombined at coupler 60 with stream 302 originating from ADN 12 c in λ₂.Stream then 302′ travels from ADN 12 c to gateway 14 a.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 a both drops and forwards traffic on ring 18coming from ADN 12 d (including stream 302′). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 b into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 302′ in λ₃. Demultiplexed stream302′ is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toterminate stream 302′. Such termination is appropriate since traffic instream 302′ is destined for ADN 12 d, which this traffic has alreadyreached. The dropped stream 302′ included in the traffic dropped fromcoupler 60 a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230associated with the signal regeneration element 220 b of the gateway 14to not forward λ₃. Because stream 302′ is terminated before enteringsubnets 20 and 24, λ₃ may be reused in these subnets for other traffic,if desired.

In this manner, OUSPR protection can be provided in network 10 throughthe configuration of gateways 14 and ADNs 12. This protection isimplemented by providing traffic stream 300 that travels clockwisearound ring 16 from its origin to its destination, and traffic streams302 and 302′, including the same information as the first traffic stream300, that travel counterclockwise around ring 18. Therefore, protectionis provided since the information can reach the destination even ifthere is a break or other error in rings 16 and/or 18. For example, ifrings 16 and 18 are broken between ADNs 12 c and 12 d, traffic stream300 will not reach ADN 12 d. However, traffic stream 302′ will reach ADN12 d—thus providing traffic protection. It will be understood thatbreaks or other errors in other locations of network 10 may be dealtwith in a similar fashion. Furthermore, although the example OUPSRnetwork implementation described in FIG. 5 includes three subnets eachhaving two ADNs 12, any appropriate number of ADNs 12, gateways 14, andsubnets may be used. Each gateway 14 may still be configured to at leastterminate, optically pass-through, regenerate, or regenerate andwavelength convert traffic on each incoming channel depending on thesource and destination of that traffic. Moreover, a single gateway 14may be used as a hub node in a network having no subnets, as describedbelow.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating example optical signals in anoptical network 310 of FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. These example light paths illustrate animplementation of network 310 as an OUPSR network. Network 310 includesa plurality if ADNs 12 and a single gateway 14 acting as a hub node.Therefore, network 310 does not comprise subnets. In FIG. 6, for ease ofreference, only high-level details of ADNs 12 and gateways 14 are shown.

In the illustrated embodiment, three traffic streams are shown. Trafficstream 320 is a clockwise stream originating from ADN 12 a and travelingon ring 16 destined for ADN 12 b. Traffic stream 322 is acounterclockwise stream originating from ADN 12 a and traveling on ring18 destined for ADN 12 b. Traffic stream 322′ is traffic stream 322after having its wavelength converted. Traffic stream 322′ includes thesame content as stream 322, but in a different wavelength/channel. ForOUPSR protection, traffic streams 320 and 322 include identical contentdestined for ADN 12 b. As described below, these dual OUPSR trafficstreams may be implemented by configuring gateway 14 to providewavelength conversion of stream 302 to prevent interference in network310.

Traffic stream 320 is originated in a first wavelength/channel, λ₁, atADN 12 a using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 16. Stream 320 isadded to existing optical signals on ring 16 via the coupler 60 of ADN12 a that is associated with ring 16. Although only stream 320 is shownon ring 16, it should be understood that other traffic streams in otherwavelengths/channels are also travelling around ring 16. After exitingADN 12 a, stream 320 travels via ring 16 to ADN 12 b. The coupler 60 ofADN 12 b drops stream 320, along with all other traffic on ring 16. Areceiver 102 may then be used to receive stream 320 (for example, usingan accompanying filter) and communicate the content in that stream to anappropriate location (for example, a client of ADN 12 b). Stream 320 isalso forwarded by coupler 60 of ADN 12 b, and travels to gateway 14.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 both drops and forwards traffic on ring 16coming from ADN 12 b (including stream 320). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 320 in λ₁. Demultiplexed stream320 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toterminate stream 320. Such termination is appropriate since traffic instream 320 is destined for ADN 12 b, which this traffic has alreadyreached. The dropped stream 320 included in the traffic dropped fromcoupler 60 a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230associated with the signal regeneration element 220 of the gateway 14 tonot forward λ₁.

Traffic stream 322 is originated in a second wavelength/channel, λ₂, atADN 12 a using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 18. The use of λ₂is used as merely an example and for purposes of distinction. In fact,since ring 16 is separate from ring 18, stream 322 may be (and mighttypically be) transmitted in λ₁. Furthermore, any other appropriatewavelengths/channels may be used to transmit streams 320, 322, and 322′.Stream 322 is added to existing optical signals on ring 18 via thecoupler 60 of ADN 12 a that is associated with ring 18. Although onlystream 322 (and 322′) is shown on ring 18, it should be understood thatother traffic streams in other wavelengths/channels are also travellingaround ring 18. After exiting ADN 12 a, stream 322 travels via ring 18to ADN 12 h.

Stream 322 travels, along with other traffic, through ADNs 12 h, 12 g,12 f, 12 e, 12 d, and 12 c to gateway 14. The traffic stream 322 is notshown as being dropped by ADNs 12 h, 12 g, 12 f, 12 e, 12 d, and 12 cbecause stream 322 is not destined for these nodes. However, it shouldbe understood that coupler 60 of each of these ADNs both forwards stream322 (along with the rest of the traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 322(along with the other traffic). The filters 100 associated with each ofthese ADNs filter out λ₂, as described above, since stream 322 is notdestined for these nodes.

Upon reaching gateway 14, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 both drops andforwards traffic on ring 18 coming from ADN 12 c (including stream 322).For the purposes of this example, stream 322 requires wavelengthconversion at this point since travel of stream 322 in λ₂ throughgateway 14 will create interference with the traffic originating fromADN 12 a in λ₂. Therefore, once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14, demultiplexed stream322 in λ₂ is terminated by a switch 210.

The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a is forwarded to a signalregeneration element 220 associated with ring 18. The dropped traffic issplit into multiple copies by a splitter 222 and stream 322 is forwardedthrough to a transponder 232 by a filter 230 selecting λ₂. Stream 322 isthen regenerated using transponder 232 and it wavelength is converted toλ₃ by transponder 234 (although, as described above, a singletransponder may be used in particular embodiments). The regenerated andwavelength converted stream 322′ is then combined with other signalsbeing forwarded through the signal regeneration element 220 by acombiner 224, and the combined signal is added to traffic forwardingthough mux/demux unit 214 by coupler 60 b. This combined traffic iscommunicated from gateway 14 to ADN 12 b, its destination.

Coupler 60 of ADN 12 b both forwards stream 322′ (along with the rest ofthe traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 322′ (along with the othertraffic). One of the filters 100 associated with ADN 12 b forwardsthrough λ₃, since stream 322′ is destined for ADN 12 b. Stream 322′ alsocontinues on to ADN 12 a, which drops and filters out stream 322′. Sincestream 322′ is now in λ₃, no interference is caused when stream 322′ iscombined with stream 322 originating from ADN 12 a in λ₂. Stream then322′ travels from ADN 12 a to ADN 12 h.

As with stream 322, stream 322′ travels, along with other traffic,through ADNs 12 h, 12 g, 12 f, 12 e, 12 d, and 12 c to gateway 14.Traffic stream 322′ is not shown as being dropped by ADNs 12 h, 12 g, 12f, 12 e, 12 d, and 12 c because stream 322′ is not destined for thesenodes. However, it should be understood that coupler 60 of each of theseADNs both forwards stream 322′ (along with the rest of the traffic onring 18) and drops stream 322′ (along with the other traffic). Thefilters 100 associated with each of these ADNs filter out λ₃, asdescribed above, since stream 322′ is not destined for these nodes.

As with stream 322, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 both drops and forwardsstream 322′. The forwarded stream 322′ is terminated by a switch 210after being demultiplexed by demultiplexer 206. Such termination isappropriate since traffic in stream 322′ is destined for ADN 12 b, whichthis traffic has already reached, and since further travel of stream322′ would interfere with the stream 322′ originating from gateway 14.The dropped stream 322′ included in the traffic dropped from coupler 60a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230 associated withthe signal regeneration element 220 of the gateway 14 to not forward λ₃.Therefore, interference is prevented.

In this manner, OUSPR protection can be provided in network 310 throughthe configuration of gateway 14 and ADNs 12. This protection isimplemented in one embodiment by providing traffic stream 320 thattravels clockwise around ring 16 from its origin to its destination, andtraffic streams 322 and 322′ including the same content as the firsttraffic stream 320 that travel counterclockwise around ring 18.Therefore, protection is provided since the content can reach thedestination even if there is a break or other error in rings 16 or 18 atone or more locations. For example, if rings 16 and 18 are brokenbetween ADNs 12 a and 12 b, traffic stream 320 will not reach ADN 12 b.However, traffic stream 322′ will reach ADN 12 b—thus providing trafficprotection. It will be understood that breaks or other errors in network10 may be dealt with in a similar fashion.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method for transmitting traffic in anoptical network to provide OUPSR protection in accordance withparticular embodiments of the present invention. The method begins withstep 400, wherein one or more gateways 14 of a network are configured toeither terminate, optically pass-through, regenerate, or regenerate andwavelength convert a signal in each of a plurality ofwavelengths/channels in which information is transmitted on the opticalrings of the network. As described above, such configuration depends onthe origin and destination of the information in each wavelength/channeland the position of a gateway 14 relative to the source and destinationnodes for a particular wavelength/channel.

At step 402, traffic is passively added and dropped from the opticalrings at each of a plurality of ADNs 12 (and possibly gateways 14 ifthey also function as add/drop nodes). The traffic comprises contentthat is destined for different nodes and that is transported in therings in different wavelengths/channels. As described above, the samecontent is transmitted from a source node over both rings. As an exampleonly, as illustrated in FIG. 5, information from ADN 12 c is transmittedto ADN 12 d in stream 320 on ring 16 and in stream 322 on ring 18.

At step 404, those traffic channels that have reached their destinationnode are terminated at appropriate gateways 14 along the rings. In oneembodiment, such termination occurs at the switches of one or moregateways 14, such that the gateways 14 formed the boundaries of subnetswithin the network. As an example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, trafficstream 320 originating from ADN 12 c and destined for ADN 12 d isterminated at gateway 14 b since the destination has been reached.

At step 406, traffic streams that have not reached their destinationnode(s) are forwarded through the gateways 14 to allow the destinationnode to be reached. Depending on the configuration of each gateway 14,such forwarded traffic may be optically passed-through the gateway 14,regenerated by the gateway 14, or regenerated and wavelength convertedby the gateway 14. As examples from FIG. 5, stream 322 is opticallypassed-through gateway 14 a, regenerated at gateway 14 c, andregenerated and wavelength converted at gateway 14 b. Once trafficceases to be added on network 10, the method ends. It should beunderstood that since different wavelengths/channels are being added,dropped, terminated, and forwarded at different times and at differentlocations depending on their source and origin, the steps of the examplemethod may occur in any order and/or simultaneously.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating example optical signals of anexample configuration of optical network 10 of FIG. 1 in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. These example opticalsignals illustrate an implementation of network 10 as an OSPPR network.In FIG. 8, for ease of reference, only high-level details of ADNs 12 andgateways 14 are shown. As described with reference to FIG. 1, theexample optical network 10 includes three subnets 20, 22, and 24. Subnet20 includes ADNs 12 a and 12 b, subnet 22 includes ADNs 12 c and 12 d,and subnet 24 includes ADNs 12 e and 12 f. Gateway 14 a divides subnets20 and 22, gateway 14 b divides subnets 22 and 24, and gateway 14 cdivides subnets 24 and 20.

In the illustrated embodiment, several traffic streams are shown. Someof these streams comprise preemtable signals (or protection channelaccess (PCA) streams) and protected (or work) signals. Preemtablesignals are signals that are terminated to provide protection to othersignals. Protected signals are signals for which protection is provided.In the event of a line cut or other interruption causing a protectedstream to not reach its destination node(s), one or more preemtablestreams may be terminated to allow the protected traffic to betransmitted instead of the preemtable stream. After the interruption hasbeen repaired, the network may revert to its pre-interruption state. Inone embodiment, the protection-switchable traffic may comprisehigher-priority traffic than the preemtable traffic; however, it will beunderstood that other divisions of the traffic streams into protectedand preemtable portions may be suitable or desirable in otherembodiments.

Referring now to FIG. 8, during normal operations, protected trafficstreams 502, 504, and 506 are transmitted in clockwise ring 16 in eachof subnets 20, 22, and 24. Traffic stream 502 is a clockwise streamoriginating from ADN 12 c and destined for ADN 12 d, traffic stream 504is a clockwise stream originating from ADN 12 e and destined for gateway14 c, and traffic stream 506 is a clockwise stream originating from ADN12 a and destined for ADN 12 b. In the illustrated embodiment, protectedtraffic streams 502, 504, and 506 are transmitted in the same wavelength(for example, λ₁) in each subnet. Preemtable traffic streams 508 and 510are transmitted in counterclockwise ring 18 also in λ₁. Traffic stream508 is a counterclockwise stream originating from ADN 12 a and destinedfor ADN 12 e, and traffic stream 510 is a counterclockwise streamoriginating from ADN 12 d and destined for ADN 12 c. As shown in FIG. 9,streams 508 and 510 may be interrupted during protection switching toprotect a higher-priority stream.

Although traffic in a single, example wavelength is illustrated, it willbe understood that protected traffic and preemtable traffic aretransmitted in numerous other wavelengths/channels in rings 16 and 18.Furthermore, although protected traffic is illustrated as beingtransmitted in the same wavelength as preemtable traffic (although on adifferent ring), numerous other configurations may be implemented. As anexample only, work traffic may be transmitted on ring 16 in odd-numberedchannels and in even-numbered channels on ring 18. Preemtable trafficmay be transmitted in ring 16 in even-numbered channels and inodd-numbered channels on ring 18. Any other suitable configurations maybe used.

Protected traffic stream 502 is originated in a first wavelength, λ₁, atADN 12 c using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 16. Stream 502 isadded to existing optical signals on ring 16 via the coupler 60 of ADN12 c that is associated with ring 16. After exiting ADN 12 c, stream 502travels via ring 16 to ADN 12 d. The coupler 60 of ADN 12 d drops stream502, along with all other traffic on ring 16. A receiver 102 may then beused to receive stream 502 and communicate the information in thatstream to an appropriate location. Stream 502 is also forwarded bycoupler 60 of ADN 12 d, and travels to gateway 14 b.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 b both drops and forwards traffic on ring 16coming from ADN 12 d (including stream 502). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 b into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 502 in λ₁. Demultiplexed stream502 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toterminate stream 502. Such termination is appropriate since traffic instream 502 is destined for ADN 12 d, which this traffic has alreadyreached. The dropped stream 502 included in the traffic dropped fromcoupler 60 a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230associated with the signal regeneration element 220 of gateway 14 b tonot forward λ₁. Because stream 502 is terminated before entering subnets24 and 20, λ₁ may be reused in these subnets for streams 540 and 506.

Protected traffic stream 504 is originated in wavelength λ₁ at ADN 12 eusing a transmitter 104 associated with ring 16. Stream 504 is added toexisting optical signals on ring 16 via the coupler 60 of ADN 12 e thatis associated with ring 16. Stream 504 travels, along with othertraffic, from ADN 12 e through ADN 12 f to gateway 14 c. The trafficstream 504 is not shown as being dropped by ADN 12 f because stream 504is not destined for that node. However, it should be understood thatcoupler 60 of ADN 12 f forwards stream 504 (along with the rest of thetraffic on ring 16) and drops stream 504 (along with the other traffic).The filters 100 associated with ADN 12 f filter out λ₁, since stream 504is not destined for this node.

Upon reaching gateway 14 c, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 c both drops andforwards traffic on ring 16 coming from ADN 12 f (including stream 504).Since stream 504 is destined for gateway 14 c (in this example, gateway14 c includes the components of an add/drop node, as described above),once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a is demultiplexed bydemultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 c, demultiplexed stream 504 in λ₁ isterminated by a switch 210. The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a isforwarded to a receiver 232 (for example, via a distributing/combiningelement 222 and a filter 230) that may then be used to receive stream504 and communicate the content in that stream to an appropriatelocation (for example, a client coupled to gateway 14 c).

Protected traffic stream 506 is originated in wavelength λ₁ at ADN 12 ausing a transmitter 104 associated with ring 16. Stream 506 is added toexisting optical signals on ring 16 via the coupler 60 of ADN 12 a thatis associated with ring 16. After exiting ADN 12 a, stream 506 travelsvia ring 16 to ADN 12 b. The coupler 60 of ADN 12 b drops stream 506,along with all other traffic on ring 16. A receiver 102 may then be usedto receive stream 506 and communicate the content in that stream to anappropriate client of ADN 12 b. Stream 506 is also forwarded by coupler60 of ADN 12 b, and travels to gateway 14 a.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 a both drops and forwards traffic on ring 16coming from ADN 12 b (including stream 506). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 a into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 506 in λ₁. Demultiplexed stream506 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toterminate stream 506. Such termination is appropriate since traffic instream 506 is destined for ADN 12 b, which this traffic has alreadyreached. The dropped stream 506 included in the traffic dropped fromcoupler 60 a is similarly terminated by configuring the filters 230associated with the signal regeneration element 220 of gateway 14 a tonot forward λ₁. Because stream 506 is terminated before entering subnets22 and 24, λ₁ may be reused in these subnets for streams 502 and 504.

Preemtable traffic stream 508 is originated in the first wavelength, λ₁,at ADN 12 a using a transmitter 104 associated with ring 18. Stream 508is added to existing optical signals on ring 18 via the coupler 60 ofADN 12 a that is associated with ring 18. After exiting ADN 12 a, stream302 travels via ring 18 to gateway 14 c.

Coupler 60 a of gateway 14 c both drops and forwards traffic on ring 18coming from ADN 12 a (including stream 508). The forwarded traffic isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 c into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 508. Demultiplexed stream 508 isforwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch 210, whereit is forwarded through. Such forwarding is appropriate since traffic instream 508 is destined for ADN 12 e, which this traffic has not yetreached, and since it is assumed that the stream 508 does not need to beregenerated (regeneration could be performed if needed). The forwardedstream 508 is recombined with other demultiplexed traffic usingmultiplexer 204. The dropped stream 508 included in the traffic droppedfrom coupler 60 a is filtered out at the signal regeneration element220.

Stream 508 travels, along with other traffic, from gateway 14 c throughADN 12 f to ADN 12 e. The coupler 60 of ADN 12 e drops stream 508, alongwith all other traffic on ring 18. A receiver 102 may then be used toreceive stream 508 and communicate the information in that stream to anappropriate location. Stream 508 is also forwarded by coupler 60 of ADN12 e, and travels to gateway 14 b, where it is terminated (since thedestination has been reached).

Preemtable traffic stream 510 is originated in wavelength λ₁ at ADN 12 dusing a transmitter 104 associated with ring 18. Stream 510 is added toexisting optical signals on ring 18 via the coupler 60 of ADN 12 d thatis associated with ring 18. After exiting ADN 12 d, stream 510 travelsvia ring 18 to ADN 12 c. The coupler 60 of ADN 12 c drops stream 510,along with all other traffic on ring 18. A receiver 102 may then be usedto receive stream 510 and communicate the information in that stream toan appropriate client. Stream 510 is also forwarded by coupler 60 of ADN12 c, and travels to gateway 14 a, where it is terminated (since thedestination has been reached).

Therefore, through the use of gateways 14 to provide subnets, rings 16and 18 may be used to communicate different information in differentsubnets using the same wavelength. Furthermore, since some of thistraffic (in the example above, the traffic on ring 18) is deemedpreemtable, OSPPR protection can be implemented in the case of a failurein ring 16 and/or ring 18, as described below.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating protection switching and lightpath protection of the traffic stream 502 of FIG. 8 in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention. In the event of a line cut orother interruption, an alternate light path is created for protectedchannels that are prevented from reaching their destination node(s) dueto the interruption. If the alternate light path would result ininterference from preemtable traffic in the same channel, the preemtabletraffic is terminated. In the illustrated example, preemtable trafficstreams 508 and 510 need to be terminated to provide an alternativelight path over ring 18 (since these traffic streams in λ₁ are in theprotection path). However, as previously noted, it will be understoodthat other divisions of traffic may be utilized without departing fromthe scope of the present invention.

In the illustrated example, a line cut 520 prevents traffic stream 502from reaching its destination node (ADN 12 d) via ring 16. This problemmay be detected by one or more nodes or other equipment in network 10and may be reported to NMS 126. NMS 126 may direct, pursuant to theOPSSR protection switching protocol of this embodiment, the terminationof preemtable traffic streams 508 and 510 to free the use of λ₁ in ring18 for protection traffic. After the preemtable traffic streams havebeen terminated, NMS 126 may direct ADN 12 c to begin transmitting thecontent in stream 502 via ring 18 instead of or in addition to ring 16.

This new protection stream 512 containing the content of stream 502 isoriginated in wavelength λ₁ at ADN 12 c using a transmitter 104associated with ring 18 (although in other embodiments, a singletransmitter may transmit the same signal over both rings 16 and 18).Stream 512 is added to existing optical signals on ring 18 via thecoupler 60 of ADN 12 c that is associated with ring 18. After exitingADN 12 c, stream 512 travels via ring 18 to gateway 14 a. Coupler 60 aof gateway 14 a both drops and forwards traffic on ring 18 coming fromADN 12 b (including stream 512). The forwarded traffic is demultiplexedby demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 a into its constituentwavelengths/channels, including stream 512 in λ₁. Demultiplexed stream512 is forwarded from the demultiplexer 206 to its associated switch210. The switch 210 is configured in the illustrated embodiment toforward stream 512 since it is destined for ADN 12 d (and since stream512 does not need to be regenerated or wavelength converted at thispoint because in the illustrated embodiment the distance from ADN 12 cto gateway 14 a is not large enough the require signal regeneration).The forwarded stream 512 is recombined with other demultiplexed trafficusing multiplexer 204. The dropped stream 512 included in the trafficdropped from coupler 60 a is terminated (since no regeneration orwavelength conversion is needed) by configuring the filters 230associated with the associated signal regeneration element 220 of thegateway 14 a to not forward λ₁.

Stream 512 travels, along with other traffic, from gateway 14 a throughADNs 12 b and 12 a to gateway 14 c. The traffic stream 512 is not shownas being dropped by ADNs 12 b and 12 a because stream 512 is notdestined for these nodes. However, it should be understood that coupler60 of ADNs 12 b and 12 a both forwards stream 512 (along with the restof the traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 512 (along with the othertraffic). The filters 100 associated with ADNs 12 b and 12 a filter outλ₁.

Upon reaching gateway 14 c, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 c both drops andforwards traffic on ring 18 coming from ADN 12 a (including stream 512).For the purposes of this example, stream 512 requires regeneration dueto the distance it has traveled around ring 18 to this point. Therefore,once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a is demultiplexed bydemultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 c, demultiplexed stream 512 in λ₁ isterminated by a switch 210.

The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a is forwarded to a signalregeneration element 220 associated with ring 18. The dropped traffic issplit into multiple copies by a splitter 222 and stream 512 is forwardedthrough to a transponder 232 by a filter 230. Stream 512 is thenregenerated using transponder 232 and/or transponder 234 (although, asdescribed above, a single transponder may be used in particularembodiments). No wavelength conversion is performed at this point in theillustrated example. The regenerated stream 512 is then combined withother signals being forwarded through the signal regeneration element220 by a combiner 224, and the combined signal is added to trafficforwarding though mux/demux unit 214 by coupler 60 b. This combinedtraffic is communicated from gateway 14 c to ADN 12 f. Stream 512travels, along with other traffic, from gateway 14 c through ADNs 12 fand 12 e to gateway 14 b.

Upon reaching gateway 14 b, coupler 60 a of gateway 14 b both drops andforwards traffic on ring 18 coming from ADN 12 e (including stream 512).For the purposes of this example, stream 512 requires wavelengthconversion at this point since travel of stream 512 in λ₁, into subnet22 will create interference with traffic originating from ADN 12 c inλ₁. Therefore, once the traffic forwarded by coupler 60 a isdemultiplexed by demultiplexer 206 of gateway 14 b, demultiplexed stream512 in λ₁ is terminated by a switch 210.

The traffic dropped by coupler 60 a is forwarded to a signalregeneration element 220 associated with ring 18. The dropped traffic issplit into multiple copies by a splitter 222 and stream 512 is forwardedthrough to a transponder 232 by a filter 230. Stream 512 is thenregenerated and its wavelength is converted to a second wavelength, λ₂,using transponders 232 and/or 234. The regenerated and wavelengthconverted stream 512′ is then combined with other signals beingforwarded through the signal regeneration element 220 by a combiner 224,and the combined signal is added to traffic forwarding though mux/demuxunit 214 by coupler 60 b. This combined traffic is communicated fromgateway 14 b to ADN 12 d.

Coupler 60 of ADN 12 d both forwards stream 512′ (along with the rest ofthe traffic on ring 18) and drops stream 512′ (along with the othertraffic). One of the filters 100 associated with ADN 12 d forwardsthrough λ₂, since stream 512′ is destined for ADN 12 d, and a receiver102 may then be used to receive stream 512′ and communicate theinformation in that stream to an appropriate location. Therefore, thecontent which was not able to reach ADN 12 d in stream 502 due to linecut 520, is able to reach ADN 12 d in streams 512/512′.

Stream 512′ also continues on to ADN 12 c, which drops but filters outstream 512′. Since stream 512′ is now in λ₂, no interference is causedwhen stream 512′ is combined with stream 512 originating from ADN 12 cin λ₁. Stream 512′ then travels from ADN 12 c to gateway 14 a, whichterminates stream 512′. In this way, an alternate path from ADN 12 c toADN 12 d is created without creating interference with other traffic. Inan alternative embodiment, stream 512 could be wavelength converted tostream 512′ at gateway 14 a, thus allowing traffic stream 508 to no bepreempted.

After repair of the line cut, the network is reverted to itspre-protection switching state illustrated in FIG. 8. Specifically,protection traffic streams 512 and 512′ are terminated, protectedtraffic stream 502 is resumed (if it was terminated), and preemtabletraffic streams 508 and 510 are resumed.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example method for transmitting traffic in anoptical network to provide OSPPR protection in accordance withparticular embodiments of the present invention. The method begins withstep 600, wherein one or more protected traffic streams are transmittedin one or more wavelengths in the clockwise and/or counterclockwiserings of a network. At step 602, one or more preemtable traffic streamsare transmitted in one or more wavelengths in the clockwise and/orcounterclockwise rings of a network. As described above, the protectedtraffic may be transmitted in one ring of the network and the preemtabletraffic may be transmitted in the other ring of the network.Alternatively, the protected traffic may be transmitted in particularwavelengths/channels of each ring, and the preemtable traffic may betransmitted in other wavelengths/channels of each ring. Any appropriatechannel apportionment may be used, and such appropriate apportionmentswill account for the need to convert the wavelength of particulartraffic when required to provide protection in the case of a networkfault. Furthermore, the channel use may be apportioned so as toefficiently utilize network capacity.

At decisional step 604, it is determined whether there has been aninterruption of a working path of a protected traffic stream. Suchinterruption may comprise a line cut or other interruption that preventsthe protected traffic stream from reaching its destination node(s). Ifno interruption has occurred, the method returns to step 600. If aninterruption has occurred, at step 606, any preemtable traffic along theprotection path is terminated. At step 608, the gateways 14 in thenetwork are reconfigured to allow the protection traffic to proceedalong the protection path. In particular embodiments, this may beaccomplished by configuring at least one of the gateways 14 to convertthe wavelength of the protection traffic to prevent interference in thenetwork. One or more gateways 14 may also be configured in suchembodiments to regenerate the protection traffic (without converting itswavelength) to provide for relatively large optical ring sizes. Itshould be noted that if multiple working paths have faults and theprotected traffic on those working paths share a protection path, thenthe protected traffic with the highest priority may be given theprotection path.

At step 610, the source ADN 12 of the interrupted traffic switches thedirection of the interrupted traffic and transmits the interruptedtraffic in the protection path. At decisional step 612, it is determinedwhether the interruption has been repaired. If the interruption has notbeen repaired, the method returns to step 610, and the interruptedtraffic continues to be transmitted in the protection path. If theinterruption has been repaired, the method proceeds to step 614, wherethe network is reverted to its pre-interruption state, and the methodends. This method is repeated as long as protection is to be provided inthe network.

In complex communicating environments, multiple optical networks, suchas network 10 of FIG. 1 or any other appropriate optical networks, maycommunicate with each other such that traffic may be added and/ordropped from one network to another within a network system.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an optical network system 800 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In accordancewith this embodiment, networks 10, 700, and 750 are each optical ringnetworks coupled together to form network system 800. Althoughparticular configurations of optical networks 10, 700, and 750 areillustrated, network system 800 may comprise any appropriate number ortypes of networks. In the illustrated embodiment, networks 10 and 700are optical ring networks having multiple ADNs 12 and gateways 14, suchthat the networks are divided into subnets as described previously withreference to FIG. 1. Optical network 750 comprises a plurality of ADNs12 and a single gateway 14. Networks 10 and 700 may be coupled togetherby their associated gateways 14 a and 14 b, while networks 10 and 750may be coupled together by their associated gateways 14 c and 14 d.These connections are made so that traffic may be communicated betweenthe networks. Although the example networks are coupled at gateways 14,the networks may also be coupled using ADNs 12 in other embodiments, asdescribed below with reference to FIG. 13.

FIG. 12 illustrates a detailed view of the connection between gateways14 a and 14 b of networks 10 and 700, respectively. In the illustratedembodiment, gateways 14 a and 14 b each comprise gateway 14 of FIG. 4Awith regeneration element 240 of FIG. 4B replacing regeneration element220 of FIG. 4A. Gateways 14 a and 14 b are coupled using interconnectionmodule 850. Interconnection module 850 is connected to switches 243 and245 of each gateway 14 to form a path over which traffic may becommunicated between gateways 14 and their associated networks. There isan interconnection module 850 for each wavelength to be communicatedbetween the networks. Each switch 243 is operable to communicate anoptical signal to either switch 245 of gateways 14 for regenerationand/or wavelength conversion, as described above, or to interconnectionmodule 850. The optical signal communicated by each switch 243 isrepresented by arrow 246. Each switch 245 may be operated to eitherreceive optical signals from the associated switch 243 or frominterconnection module 850. The optical signal received by each switch245 is represented by arrow 248.

Interconnection module 850 comprises a plurality of optical splitters860 and a plurality of switches 870. Each splitter 860 is coupled to aswitch 243 associated with a first network that is dropping traffic to asecond network which receives the dropped traffic. Each switch 870 iscoupled to a switch 245 of the second network and is further coupled toa splitter 860 coupled to the first network. Although splitters 860 andswitches 870 are described as being a part of interconnection module850, these components could also be included in gateways 14 or ADNs 12,thereby eliminating the need for interconnection module 850.

Signals 246 received by optical splitters 860 are divided into twooptical signals, each containing substantially identical content and/orenergy. These optical signals are then received by switches 870associated with the rings 16 and/or 18 of the optical network onto whichthe signals are to be added. The particular configuration of switches870 determines which signals dropped from the first optical network willbe added to which rings of the second optical network.

In certain applications, optical transponder 234 may be omitted fromgateway 14. For example, but not by way of limitation, if thedestination node is located in close proximity to a gateway 14, such asif the destination node is the next node in the network, transponder 234may not be required because the distance between the destination nodeand the gateway node 14 is short enough that the optical signal may betransmitted to the destination node with a low bit-error ratio, therebysubstantially reducing the need for optical transponder 234.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example method for passively communicatingtraffic from a first optical ring network 10 to a second optical ringnetwork 700, using gateways 14 associated with each network, asillustrated in FIG. 12. The method begins at step 900, where ingresstraffic is received at coupler 60 a of a gateway 14 on an optical ring16/18 of the first optical network 10. At step 902, first and secondcopies of the ingress traffic are generated by coupler 60 a. At step904, the first and second copies of the ingress traffic are passivelyforwarded by coupler 60 a. The first copy is passively forwarded tomultiplexer/demultiplexer unit 214 and the second copy is passivelyforwarded to splitter 222. At step 906, the second copy of the ingresstraffic is split into multiple substantially identical copies bysplitter 222. At step 908, at least one of the copies of the second copyis filtered into one or more constituent wavelengths at filter 230. Atstep 910, switch 870 selectively forwards one or more of the constituentwavelengths of the second copy of the ingress traffic to optical network700. At step 912, one or more wavelengths of the forwarded signal arereceived at the either a node (such as an ADN 12 or a gateway 14)coupled to optical network 700. At step 914, one or more wavelengths ofthe forwarded signal are added at an optical ring 716/718 of opticalnetwork 700 using coupler 60 b.

Although an example method is illustrated, the present inventioncontemplates two or more steps taking place substantially simultaneouslyor in a different order. In addition, the present invention contemplatesusing methods with additional steps, fewer steps, or different steps, solong as the methods remain appropriate for passively adding traffic froma first optical ring network to a second optical ring network. Inaddition, ADNs may be similarly interconnected using interconnectionmodule 850. For example, similar to the coupling of transponder 232 ofgateway 14 to splitter 860 of interconnection module 850, receiver 102of ADN 12 may be coupled to splitter 860 when ADNs 12 are interconnectedusing module 850. Also, similar to the coupling of transponders 234 ofgateway 14 to switch 870 of module 850, transmitters 104 may be coupledto switches 870 when ADNs 12 are interconnected using module 850.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating details of an ADN 1000, which isa modification of ADN 12 of FIG. 2, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. In this embodiment, ADN 1000 comprises elementsthat are similar to those contained in ADN 12 of FIG. 2. However, inaddition to the components contained in ADN 12, ADN 1000 containsoptical switches 1105 coupled to multiplexers 1107 having opticalreceivers 102 associated with each wavelength that is communicated fromeach ring of the network. ADN 1000 also includes a switch 1108associated with each wavelength communicated to each ring of thenetwork. The addition of multiplexers 1107 allows ADN 1000 toselectively (using switches 1105) multiplex the signals contained in twoor more received channels into a multiplexed signal contained in onechannel, thereby reducing the channel count on the network andmaximizing wavelength resources.

As with distributing/combining elements 80 of FIG. 2, drop leads 86 maybe connected to one or more tunable filters 100 which in turn may beconnected to one or more broadband optical receivers 102 of multiplexer1107 through switches 1105 as illustrated in FIG. 14. Optical receivers102 may be coupled to one or more switches 1105 which may be configuredto drop the received optical signals (represented by locally-destinedtraffic 1106) or pass the optical signals to multiplexer 1107.Multiplexer 1107 multiplexes the optical signals passed to it.Multiplexer 1107 then passes the multiplexed signal to switch 1108.Depending upon the configuration of switch 1108, either the multiplexedsignal from multiplexer 1107 or locally-derived traffic 1109 will beadded to rings 16 and/or 18.

Multiplexing of dropped optical signals maximizes wavelength resourceson the network. In a particular embodiment, multiplexer 1107 may connecttwo GbE channels dropped from optical ring 18 to one OC-48 SONET channelwhich is added back onto optical ring 18. In another example, eight GbEchannels may be multiplexed into one OC-192 SONET channel. Although thisdiscussion illustrates specific examples of the types of signals thatmay be dropped from an optical ring, any appropriate type of opticalsignal may be dropped and multiplexed as discussed above.

The signals passing through switches 1108, whether multiplexed signals(which are converted to optical format by optical transmitters 104 ofmultiplexer 1107) or locally-derived signals 1109 (which are assumed inthe illustrated example to be in optical format when received atswitches 1108) are transmitted to distributing/combining elements 80over leads 88 where the signals are combined by combiners 84 andforwarded to transport elements 50 a and 50 b, as described above, viacounterclockwise add segment 142 and clockwise add segment 146, asillustrated in FIG. 14.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example optical network 2000 comprising ADNs 1000of FIG. 14 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 15illustrates that, in a particular embodiment, signals contained in twochannels 2010 and 2020 may be added to optical ring network 2000 at ADNs1000 a and 1000 b, respectively. The signals contained in channels 2010and 2020 travel along ring 16 of network 2000 where they are multiplexedinto a single channel 2030 at ADN 1000 d using multiplexer 1107, asdescribed with reference to FIG. 14. In a particular embodiment, thesignals contained in channels 2010 and 2020 may each comprise GbEsignals and multiplexed channel 2030 may comprise an OC-48 SONET signal.Although this discussion illustrates specific examples of the types ofsignals that may be multiplexed by ADNs 1000, any appropriate type ofoptical signal may be dropped and multiplexed as discussed above.

The signals contained in channels 2010 and 2020 continue to travel alongring 16 until they are terminated at gateway 14 b. The multiplexedsignals contained in channel 2030 continue to travel on ring 16 untilthey reaches their termination point (gateway 14 c in the illustratedembodiment). In this manner, only the signals contained in a singlechannel (i.e., channel 2030) are transmitted in subnet 2300, rather thanthe signals contained in the two original channels (i.e., channels 2010and 2020) that were originally transmitted in subnet 2200, thus moreefficiently utilizing wavelength resources in network 2000. As thesignals contained in channel 2030 travel around ring 16, their contentmay be dropped to another destination, such as a local client or anotheroptical network, at ADNs along ring 16, such as ADN 1000 g in theillustrated embodiment. In an alternate embodiment, the multiplexing maybe accomplished, in a manner similar to that described above withreference to multiplexers 1107 of FIG. 14, at a gateway 14 rather thanat an ADN 1000.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example optical network 2000 comprising nodes1000 of FIG. 14 according to one embodiment of the present invention inwhich OUPSR protection is implemented in combination with channelmultiplexing. FIG. 16 illustrates that, in a particular embodiment, thesignals contained in channels 2010 and 2020 may be added to optical ringnetwork 2000 at ADNs 1000 b and 1000 c, respectively. The signalscontained in channels 2010 and 2020 travel along ring 16 of network 1000where they are multiplexed into a single channel 2030 at ADN 1000 dusing multiplexers 1107, as described with reference to FIG. 14. In aparticular embodiment, the signals contained in channels 2010 and 2020may each comprise GbE signals and multiplexed channel 2030 may comprisean OC-48 SONET signal. Although this discussion illustrates specificexamples of the types of signals that may be multiplexed by ADNs 1000,any appropriate type of optical signal may be dropped and multiplexed asdiscussed above.

The signals contained in channels 2010 and 2020 continue to travel alongring 16 until they are terminated at gateway 14 b. The multiplexedsignals contained in channel 2030 continue to travel on ring 16 to theirdestination location (ADN 1000 g in the illustrated embodiment). Thesignals contained in channel 2030 are terminated when they reach atermination point (gateway 14 c in the illustrated embodiment).According to one embodiment, in order to provide OUPSR protection, thesignals contained in channels 2010 and 2020 are also transmitted alongring 18 to ADN 1000 a where they are multiplexed into channel 2040. Themultiplexed signals contained in channel 2040 are transmitted on ring 18to their destination location (ADN 1000 g in the illustratedembodiment). The signals contained in channel 2040 are terminated whenthey reach a termination point (gateway 14 b in the illustratedembodiment). In this manner, the signals contained in channels 2010 and2020 may reach their destination locations even if one ring of thenetwork is interrupted.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example method for transmitting multiplexedtraffic on an optical ring of an optical ring network 2000. The methodbegins at step 2402 where ADNs 1000 b and 1000 c add optical signals2010 and 2020, respectively, on ring 16 of network 2000. At step 2404,signals 2010 and 2020 are received at ADN 1000 d and the optical coupler60 of ADN 1000 d that is coupled to ring 16 creates a first and a secondcopy of signals 2010 and 2020 (along with any other traffic received onring 16). The first copy is forwarded along ring 16 and the second copyis dropped to distributing/combining element 80 a, as described above.At step 2406, as described above, the second copy of signals 2010 and2020 is multiplexed to create a signal 2030. At step 2408, multiplexedsignal 2030 is combined with the first copy of signals 2010 and 2020 atcoupler 60 (along with the other traffic forwarded by coupler 60). Atstep 2410, ADN 1000 d forwards multiplexed signal 2030 and the firstcopy of the received traffic, including signals 2010 and 2020, on ring16 to the next node on ring 16, gateway node 14 b.

At step 2412, gateway node 14 b receives signals 2010, 2020, and 2030 onring 16. At step 2414, gateway node 14 b terminates signals 2010 and2020. These signals are terminated because the information contained insignals 2010 and 2020 is also contained in signal 2030. Thus, byeliminating the traffic containing signals 2010 and 2020 and retainingsignal 2030, the information contained in signals 2010 and 2020 is stillpresent in the network in multiplexed signal 2030, but the number ofsignals required to transmit the traffic is reduced, thereby increasingthe available network resources. At step 2416, gateway 14 b forwardssignal 2030 to another node on the network, such as ADN 1000 g, where acopy of the signal may be dropped to a local client or another networkwhile another copy of signal 2030 is forwarded to gateway 14 c. At step2418, gateway 14 c terminates signal 2030 to prevent interference withsignal 2030 being added at ADN 1000 d.

In order to provide OUPSR protection on network 2000, as shown in FIG.16, steps 2402 through 2418 may be implemented in a similar manner fortraffic added to ring 18. In this case, signals 2010 and 2020 aremultiplexed into signal 2040 at ADN 1000 a and signals 2010 and 2020 areterminated at gateway 14 a. Signal 2040 is forwarded to another node onthe network, such as 1000 g, where the signal may be dropped to a localclient or another network. Note, however, that signals 2030 and 2040pass each other in opposite directions on network 2000 so that in theevent that communication on either ring 16 or 18 is interrupted theinformation contained in signals 2030 or 2040 will reach its destinationalong its associated ring. Gateway 14 b terminates signal 2040 toprevent interference with signal 2040 being added at ADN 1000 a.

Although an example method is illustrated, the present inventioncontemplates two or more steps taking place substantially simultaneouslyor in a different order. In addition, the present invention contemplatesusing methods with additional steps, fewer steps, or different steps, solong as the methods remain appropriate for multiplexing optical trafficchannels in an optical ring network.

Furthermore, although the present invention has been described withseveral embodiments, a multitude of changes, substitutions, variations,alterations, and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in theart, and it is intended that the invention encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications as fall withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. An optical network system comprising a first optical network and asecond optical network, each network comprising at least one opticalgateway node and a plurality of passive optical add/drop nodes, thesystem comprising: a first gateway node coupled to the first opticalnetwork and operable to: forward a first copy of a received opticalsignal to a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit of the first gateway node,the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit operable to multiplex the first copyinto one or more constituent wavelengths and to selectively forward orterminate the traffic in each wavelength of the first copy; forward asecond copy of the received optical signal to a regeneration element ofthe first gateway node, the second copy thus bypassing themultiplexer/demultiplexer unit; selectively forward or terminate thetraffic in each wavelength of the first copy at themultiplexer/demultiplexer unit; and selectively perform one of thefollowing on the traffic in each wavelength of the second copy at theregeneration element: terminate the traffic, forward the traffic to thesecond optical network, or forward the traffic on the first opticalnetwork after regenerating the traffic; and a second gateway nodecoupled to the second optical network and operable to: receive thetraffic contained in the second copy forwarded from the first gatewaynode; and add the traffic contained in the second copy forwarded fromthe first gateway node to a ring of the second optical network.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the regeneration element is further operableto selectively forward the traffic after regenerating and converting thewavelength of the traffic.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein at leastone network comprises a plurality of subnets, each subnet comprising aplurality of add/drop nodes, the number of subnets equal to the numberof gateway nodes in the network.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein,within each subnet, each add/drop node is operable to add and droptraffic independent of the channel spacing of the traffic.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein each add/drop node comprises one or more opticalcouplers associated with each ring of the network, the optical couplersoperable to passively add and drop traffic to and from the associatedring.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first gateway nodecomprises: a first optical coupler operable to receive ingress trafficon the optical ring, to forward the first copy of the received opticalsignal to the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit, and to forward the secondcopy of the received optical signal to the regeneration element; and asecond optical coupler operable to receive traffic forwarded by themultiplexer/demultiplexer unit and the regeneration element, and furtheroperable to combine the received traffic such that the combined signalis forwarded on the optical ring.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein thesignal regeneration element comprises: a splitter operable to make aplurality of copies of the second copy received from the first opticalcoupler; one or more filters each operable to receive one of theplurality of copies of the second copy and to forward signals associatedwith one or more wavelengths of the received copy; one or moretransponders each operable to receive the filtered signal in aparticular wavelength from the one or more filters and to regenerate thesignal in that wavelength; and a combiner operable to receive andcombine the regenerated signals and to forward the combined signals tothe second optical coupler.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein one ormore of the transponders are further operable to convert the wavelengthof the received signal.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein themultiplexer/demultiplexer unit comprises: a demultiplexer operable todemultiplex the second copy of the received optical signal into aplurality of constituent wavelengths; a switch operable to selectivelyforward or terminate each wavelength; and a multiplexer operable tocombine the forwarded wavelengths.
 10. The system of claim 1, whereineach wavelength that is regenerated by the signal regeneration elementis terminated by the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit.
 11. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the first gateway node is further operable to addtraffic to the first network that is received from the second gatewaynode coupled to the second network.
 12. The system of claim 1, whereinthe traffic forwarded to the second optical network from the firstgateway node is received at an interconnection module operable to couplethe first network to the second network, the interconnection modulecomprising: an optical coupler coupled to a ring of the first opticalnetwork and operable to: receive the traffic contained in the secondcopy forwarded to the second optical network from the first opticalnetwork; split the traffic contained in the second copy intosubstantially identical copies; and forward a copy of the trafficcontained in the second copy to a second optical network; and a switchcoupled to the second optical network and operable to: receive the copyof the traffic forwarded by the optical coupler; and selectively forwardthe copy of the traffic to an optical ring of the second opticalnetwork.